A communication system is operable to communicate information between a transmitting station and a receiving station by way of a communication channel. A radio communication system is a communication system in which the communication channel by which information is communicated between the transmitting and receiving stations is formed upon a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
A cellular communication system is exemplary of a multi-user, radio communication system. A cellular communication system is a multi-user system, permitting large numbers of users to communicate telephonically therethrough. With the installation of the network infrastructure of cellular communication systems throughout large geographical areas, together with the affordability of telephonic communication effectuated therethrough, use of cellular communication systems by which to communicate telephonically has achieved wide popularity.
Advancements in digital communication techniques have been utilized to form digital cellular communication systems, the network infrastructure of which also has been installed throughout wide geographical regions. Digital modulation techniques permit efficient utilization of the available electromagnetic spectrum allocated to cellular communication systems. Also, digital modulation techniques facilitate the transmission of digital data which can more directly be modulated, in contrast to conventional analog signals.
Digital data, such as computer data or, more generally, "communication media", can be transmitted by way of a cellular, or other, radio communication system, thereby to effectuate the transfer of data between remotely-positioned locations.
Digital data generated by any of many various types of communication devices can be provided to radio telephonic apparatus, such as a portable radio telephone, to be modulated thereat and transmitted by way of a radio link to the network infrastructure of the cellular communication system, thereafter to be routed to a receiving station. Analogously, digital data generated at such location can be provided to the network infrastructure of the cellular communication system, transmitted upon a radio link established with the radio telephone, and thereafter provided to the communication device, when coupled to the radio telephone. Some of such communication devices are conventionally coupled to a portable radio telephone by way of, e.g., a cable connector of infrared coupler. When the communication device is formed of a personal computer, for instance, a cable connector is sometimes utilized to connect a data port of the personal computer to a corresponding data port of the radio telephone.
The conventional manner by which to couple a communication device together with a portable radio telephone to permit the communication of communication media between the communication device and a remote location is somewhat unwieldy, requiring, for instance, a support surface, such as a tabletop, upon which to support the separate devices.
As the electronic circuitry forming portions of electrical devices, such as communication devices and portable radio telephones, becomes increasingly miniaturized, the housings in which such electronic circuitry is housed can be reduced in size, thereby to form devices of increasingly-smaller packages.
The smaller-sized communication devices, in some instances, are of dimensions permitting a user thereof easily to carry such devices. And, a conventional, portable radio telephone is of physical dimensions permitting a user also easily to carry a portable radio telephone. However, when the communication device is connected to a portable radio telephone in conventional manner, the user of the communication device is compelled to hold the radio telephone with one hand and the communication device with another. Or, one or both, of the devices must be separately supported, such as on a support surface. Thereby, the advantages of the increased miniaturization of such devices are largely obviated because of the cumbersome manner by which such devices must be held.
A manner by which a user of a communication device coupled to a portable radio telephone could more easily support the communication device together with the radio telephone would advantageously facilitate ease of use of the communication device.
It is in light of this background information related to the communication of communication media that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.